A quick nationals preview, since the other media outlets haven't really reported on the specifics of any team, other than predictions. Here's our office staffs take on the big weekend:
Division 1
1 Fallbrook (SoCal1) vs North Bay (East1)
Fallbrook, although they graduated last year two of the most influential players in their program in #7 Megan Pinson and their #9, they have an upperclassmen laden team and are clearly the #1 ranked team going in. With seniors at 1,2,3,13,12, a flanker, and a junior standout at #10 in Richelle Stephens, they also mix in exciting young talent in freshman Lily Durbin at #15. Casey Karl and Jeannine Garcia in the centers have played a lot of rugby together. They are also famous for their conditioning which makes them a challenge to overcome in a 3-game tournament. Rumors continue to circle about the health of standout Johni Durbin at hooker, but with their team athleticism and experience they will be tough for anyone to knock off regardless.
North Bay,MD comes in unknown to some teams outside the East Coast, but they have a lot of good wins on their resume. They have 17 upperclassmen. Teams with upperclassmen confidence always do well in sports. They defeated two teams in the D2 nationals bracket: West end, Va 31-7 and Morris, NJ, 15-7 so they emerged as the #1 from the East Coast. North Bay also lost a tough match to St Joe's in March at the DC Ruggerfest. A quick recap from their coach of that match, gives you an idea of how tight the teams 4-8 may be this year:
"We lost to St Joe's in the final 17-7.
This was a very competitive match.
In a cold messy match where we were missing two of our starters due to
Sunday obligations, the score was 10-7
until the final seconds when they scored a converted try."
2 DSHA v 7 Danville
This is the other match we're pretty confidant in predicting the favorite will clearly win. DSHA has won impressively in every match they've played this spring, defeating Armstrong handily, in addition to Lakewood 46-0, and Catholic Memorial in the Midwest Final. Their fitness and depth is exceptional. Word on the street is they could have a b-side almost entirely filled with upperclassmen, and indeed their JV team once again played in the final of the Midwest 2nd Division championship. The return of Tierra Henry, who was invited to the All-American camp last year, but was injured last spring and this fall, was an extra boost to a great team.
Known by coaches everywhere for their impresive skills, ballhandling, and strong ballcarrying, they run a dynamic-professional style team.
Danville has been one of those fast-rising programs loaded with talent and good coaching. Finishing second in the tough NorCal conference, as mentioned earlier, earned them a well-deserved return trip to the National Championship. They may be banged up after a grueling NorCal final weekend, but they have an All-American at scrumhalf who returned from last year and bring an exciting game of speed and power, especially with the exceptional speed of their young fullback.
#3 Sacramento Amazons vs 6 St Joseph's Academy
The Amazons are more experienced and senior laden then some have mentioned elsewhere, with 11 seniors. They've also won their state title in NorCal in a region that probably has more quality teams than any other in the country. The top three teams from Nor Cal are all competing at Nationals and deservedly so.
The results of their state tournament reflect this:
Saturday
Amazons 22 v Danville 12
Amazons 22 v Pleasanton 12
Danville 27 v Pleasanton 14
Sunday- Championship Match (35 min halves)
Amazons 41 v Danville 10
While all three were comeptitive, it's the teams that can emerge from Saturday stronger on Sunday that win this National Tournament and the Amazons have shown they can do it. They have to be considered a title contender.
St Joseph's Academy is an all-girls Catholic school in the Cleveland area. With 50 some players and a strong core of upperclassmen, they've been building the last few years. They seem to have taken another step up this season as they traveled outside Ohio to play better competition and came out Champions of the DC Ruggerfest, where they defeated the aforementioned North Bay along with several others. They also did well at the Midwest Championships defeated a much stronger Plainfield, Illinois 10-0 before losing to Catholic Memorial for the third year in a row, in a much closer match than prior years 5-12. They then defeated arch-rival Lakewood 17-14 in the 3rd Place title match. A very physical side, with a lot of speed to boot, they match up as well as anyone can with the Amazons. They have a strong bench and used it well at tournaments; they entered a full jv side at Midwest in order to build depth. Pity they are missing some starters due to Prom weekend at their school, but if anyone has the depth to continue to compete, it's SJA.
#4 Catholic Memorial vs Kent #5
The 4 v 5 game in any good tournament should be too close to call and this year's is no exception. whoever losses could very well still end up winning two matches at the event.
Two veteran teams who travel alot to improve their level of play face off: While Kent graduated two All-Americans at #10 and #13, they reloaded and appear to have returning last year's fullback, who was outstanding in that role last year as well. They won another state championship. Their only conference loss wasn't really a loss as a miscommunication on a game time led to them acruing a forfeit against a team they would normally have defeated.
Their scores at the March 17th pre-season Fullerton Tournament are revealing only in that that's where they were two months ago. They are always a tough out and can beat anyone on a given day, given their knack for keeping scores low and games tight, especially since they are known lately for not flinging the ball around much and focusing on defense and kicking.
While traveling light they took on the best on the West Coast on March 17th:
3rd Fullerton 24. Kent 0
Semis
Kent 0 Pleasanton 8
Pool Play
Kent 8. Fullerton 5
Catholic Memorial, the Waukesha school that only draws players from its 325 girls, continues to find success in their travels. Some convinving wins at the St Louis Ruggerfest saw they defeat the Tennessee Storm twice, in addition to their third straight Midwest final. They also addded a win against formerly top-ten ranked Armstrong, MN 39-5 in a shortened game. They have 8 seniors, with two playing on scholarship at Quinnipiac University and one playing at Norwich next year, and should prove competitive again.
2 DSHA (MW1)
3 Amazons (NorCal1)
4 Catholic Memorial (MW2)
5 Kent (PNW1)
6 St Joseph’s Academy (MW3)
7 Danville (NorCal2)
8 North Bay (East1)
Division 2
1
Pleasanton (NorCal3)
2 West End (Va)
3 Morris (NJ)
4 Berkshire
United (Conn)
5 Kingston (NY)
6 Cheshire (Ct)
7 New York RC (NY)
8 State College (
No comments:
Post a Comment